Face guards for batters&#39; helmets



Dec. 11, 1962 H. w. MCCLINTOCK, SR 3,067,427

FACE GUARDS FOR BATTERS HELMETS Filed Aug. 26, 1960 -wg-i United States Patent )fifice 3, ss7,4i27 Patented Dec. 11, 1962 3,067,427 FACE GUARDS FOR BATTER? IELMETI? Howard W. McClintoek, Stu, RR. 1, Lapel, Ind. Filed Aug. 26, 196i), Ser. No. 52,212 2 Claims. (Cl. 2-9) This invention relates to novel face guards for baseball batters helmets.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of elficient and effective face guards for permanent or removable attachment to batters protective helmets to provide protection for the nose and eye areas of the face against pitched balls, which are not guarded by such helmets.

Another object of the invention is to provide simple and non-cumbersome face guards of the character indicated above which can be made sufficiently light in weight, without sacrifice of strength necessary for reliable protection against pitched balls, so that objectionable weight is not added to baters helmets, and which can be formed and located relative to the helmets so as not to impair batters clear vision of pitched balls.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following descrip tion and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a batters protective helmet equipped with a face guard in accordance with the present invention, showing the same worn on a batters head in conjunction with a cap;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan view of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of a batters protective helmet equipped with another form of face guard of the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of a batters helmet equipped with a further form of face guard of the inven tion; and,

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line 5-6 of FIGURE 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like and related numerals designate like and related parts throughout the several views, and first to FIGURES 1 and 2, a presently conventional form of base ball batters protective helmet, generally designated It is shown in place around a batters head, in conjunction with an ordinary baseball cap 12, the helmet It} being equipped, in accordance with the present invention, with a face guard 14.

The helmet is comprises a rigid sheet plastic U-shaped body having an arcuate bight portion 16 to engage the back of the batters head, and legs or side portions 18 which are wider than the bight portion 16, and extend forwardly along the sides of the batters head. A strap 17, to engage across the top of the batters head, is secured, at related ends thereof, to front and rear portions of the helmet ill. The side portions 1% have forward edges 26', which are located in the temple region of the batters head, and are provided with central circular openings 22, located in the batters ear areas. The part of the batters face extending between and forwardly from the forward edges 2% is unprotected by the helmet It), so that pitched balls, including pitched balls fouled off by the batter, can injuriously strike the batters nose 24 or the edge areas at opposite sides of the nose, and, in accordance with the present invention a face guard 14 is provided on the helmet it? in order to eliminate these dangers.

The face guard 14 of FIGURES l and 2 comprises a single horizontally disposed U-shaped rigid bar having an arcuate bight portion 28 and parallel straight legs 3d.

The bar is preferably tubular for lightness in weight and resistance to bending under the impacts of pitched balls striking the same, and is adapted to be made of suitable rigid plastic material or lightweight metal.

The legs 3% of the face guard bar has open rear ends which are internally threaded, as indicated at 32, and receive the forward ends of the threaded shanks 34 of adjustable detents 36, which comprise laterally inwardly extending, rearwardly facing hooks 38 on the rear ends of the shanks 34. Bracket plates 4th are suitably fixed to the outer sides of the helmet side portions 18, near their forward edges fill, as by means of rivets 42, and the face guard bar legs 3% are suitably fixed to the outer sides of the bracket plates 40, as by weldings 44, at locations such that the bight portion 23 of the guard bar is located forwardly of the batters nose 24, on a level with the lower part of the nose, and so that there is not enough space left between the bight portion 28 and the peak 46 of the cap 12, and between the helmet side portions 18, to pass a pitched ball into frontal contact with the batters nose, forehead, eye areas, and temples. Further, the ends of the bight portion 28 and the legs 30 prevent pitched balls from reaching the above mentioned face areas from either side of the batters head Further support for the guard 14, relative to the side portions 18 of the helmet 10, is provided by longitudinally adjusting the shanks 34 of the detents 36 in the guard bar legs 3%, by rotating the shanks relative thereto, until the hooks 38 engage around the rear edges of the openings 22, as shown in FIGURE 2. Knurled lock nuts 48 are threaded on the shanks 34, against the rear ends of the guard bar legs 30 to hold the adjustments of the detents.

In FIGURES 3 and 4 there is shown another form of face guard, generally designated 14*, which differs from the face guard of FIGURES l and 2, by being composed of two vertically spaced and forwardly divergent U-shaped upper and lower guard bars 50 and 52, and by its means of attachment to a batters helmet Ill The helmet ltl is reversed on the batters head, with its bight portion 16 disposed across the batters forehead, and with its side portions 18 extending rearwardly along the sides of the batters head, with forward edges Zit of the side portions 13 disposed at sides of the batters jaw and temple areas.

The upper and lower guard bars 5% and 52 are similar and have arcuate bight portions 25* and straight legs 30 The bight portions Ett are spaced and connected by a single vertical narrow strut 54 which is suitably fixed, at its ends, to the bight portions, and extends partly forwardly therefrom, as shown in FIGURE 4. The rear ends of the legs 3% are fixed to and are preferably integral with bracket plates 46 which are suitably fixed to the outer sides of the helmet side portion 18 near their forward edges 26*, as by means of rivets 42 The upper guard bar 5% is disposed in a substantially horizontal position, on a level with the lower part of the batters nose 34, while the lower guard bar 52 is located at a level below the nose, so as to afiord additional face protection.

The further form of the invention, shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, and generally designated 14*, has a single guard bar, like that of FIGURES l and 2, and is applied to a helmet In, like that of FIGURES 1 and 2. In contrast to FIGURES l and 2, the rear ends of the legs 3017 are fixed to the outer sides of the helmet side portions 18' by being formed integral therewith, as indicated at 42 It will be observed that in each above described form of the invention the guard bars are located on levels below the batters eyes, so that there is no interference with free forward and side vision.

A though there have been shown and described herein preferred forms of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and

that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being Within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a protective helmet having side portions having forward edges, and a horizontal U-shaped face guard having a hight portion located forwardly of and extending between the forward edges of the helmet side portions and rearWardly-extending legs fixed to said side portions, said legs having internally threaded open tubular rear ends, detents having shanks having forward ends threaded in said rear ends, said shanks having rearwardly facing hooks on their rear ends, the helmet side portions having openings having rear edges against which the hooks bear, and lock nuts on the shanks engaged with the rear ends of the legs.

2. A protective helmet having side portions having forward edges, said side portions having openings spaced rearwardly from said forward edges, a U-shaped face guard having rearwardly extending legs and a bight portion spaced forwardly from said forward edges, said legs being secured to the side portions of the helmet, detents on the legs and extending rearwardly therefrom across said openings, said detents having hooks supportably engaged with the rear edges of the openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,753,561 Mauro July 10, 1956 2,785,406 Rappleyea et a1. Mar. 19, 1957 2,944,263 Rayburn et al. July 12, 196i) 

